Legacy of the Tarrasque

Post Tarrasque attack

Leshanna reflected on the cavalier’s words it wasn’t her intention to harm her allies although she admitted to herself that she couldn’t fully trust the rogue in particular with her life her recent actions could make the others believe that they couldn’t trust her either. Her uncle’s words clichéd as they were appeared to hold some importance “With great power comes great responsibility”, she could just imagine the look on her families faces surely by now they had realised that she had disobeyed her father’s instructions of not leaving Grindlewald. She afforded herself a little smile as she had put the sentries guarding the portal of cities to sleep to get to Pavelock and then eventually down to the Treetop village to become part of a group of adventurers.

A Disturbed Rest

As Leshanna meditated and the others rested Gruumbar stood guard behind the portcullis as to be able to funnel any would be intruders. It was shortly after Gruumbar turned to rest that the cry of “To Arms” was uttered.
Gruumbar determined to protect his friends at all costs made for the portcullis he could just make out the silhouettes of some spiked rocky like creatures called kruthiks. As he forced them to funnel in against him he swung his axe only to find that these were slightly tougher than he had anticipated smiling to himself he gathered his strength for his next attack. Annoyed at the lack of space required to get into melee combat Torstein grunted to himself frustratingly.
As Leshanna fought the urge to knock off one of her fire spells she instead contented herself with the use of magic missile whilst the barbarian was stuck hacking at the creatures with a mighty swing of his great axe he felled the first creature and charged furiously at the next.
Kadish wasn’t sure if it was the fear of a barbarian charging at the creatures or some kind of intellect as two of the creatures burrowed down into the ground only for them to appear at the feet of the cavalier and Torstein.
Gruumbar continued to hack at the kruthiks foe aware that his allies were also now involved in the fight he attacked his opponent mercilessly practically slicing it up like a joint of meat with his great axe.
Torstein grinned as the kruthik bit at him the wound was barely a scratch however as Torstein muttered “My turn” he smashed the kruthik with his Warhammer the blood and guts from the creature stained the ground.
Although the other kruthik was attacking Kadish it was a combination of teamwork by Casdin and Kadish that finished the final creature off.
Turning to the others Gruumbar nodded with respect it had been a good fight, as he turned to Casdin he asked whats next?
Repeating what he had said earlier that evening Casdin confessed that he didn’t know what creatures could be lurking if any but could remember a strange pit where the kobolds where playing a game.

The Skull-Skull Room.

Nothing could prepare the adventurers for what they saw in this room four kobolds stood in front of a dragonborn which was of some interest to the cavalier being the same race as he was. Before Kadish could speak the other dragonborn let out a defiant cry of “For Tiamat”, as the kobolds and himself moved into position.
Incensed by the words of the dragonborn Kadish charged boldly towards the heretic he would make the dragonborn suffer for uttering the name of that infernal goddess.
He swung wildly at the creature but missed as the dragonborn let out a defiant cry of “is that all you have got?”.
Gruumbar meanwhile charged at two of the kobold cleaving them furiously it was no secret that he enjoyed a good scrap Kosh and the others picked off the kobolds before turning their attention to the dragonborn.
Kadish had to admit he had never faced a tougher opponent than this as he swung his weapon it only bounced off the armour of his foe Leshanna had slightly better luck targeting the dragonborn with a sleep spell as Casdin and Torstein worked together to flank their opponent. Gruumbar noticed that there was some difficulty in hitting the dragonborn as he watched his cavalier friend struggle he began to rage uncontrollably as he made forth to his opponent.
With eyes glowing wildly he swung his axe into the creature only for it also to miss summoning all of his rage he swung again for the axe to bury itself deep into the enemies shoulder he pulled it out and kicked the creature ferociously into the strange slime pit.
Despite this the dragonborn remained defiant as he breathed his poisonous breath on the barbarian, cavalier and Torstein, there was the sound of “Get out of the way”, from Leshanna as she prepared to blast an acid arrow into the face of the foe.
Although the arrow missed it splashed into the dragonborn who screamed with pain combined with the assault from the rest of the party the dragonborn was looking in bad shape. Sensing this Kadish stopped and granted the dragonborn the right to surrender which he took. After disarming him and shackling him up the heroes spotted a strange object glowing in the slime pit it appeared to be magical Kadish recognised it as a weapon of his people a khopesh. Leshanna determined that it was magical also as Kadish wielded it proudly he believed that his deity Bahamut had placed it there as his reward for servitude.

Awaiting the heroes at the Treetop Village is a horrific scene dead guards lie on the ground some with arrows protruding from their necks whilst others seem to have been frozen solid Casdin the elven rogue notices that Dietrichs general goods store has been broken into the door is caved in before the heroes can formulate a plan of action a bandaged guard screams out “There’s still people trapped in the burning buildings”, pointing to the residents houses “you have to rescue them”.

Rescuing the Villagers

So the skill challenge began as Torstein the half-orc cleric attempted to support a beam preventing it from falling but alas the beam was too heavy and it landed painfully on his shoulder injuring him and killing the villager in the process. Cursing his weakness the half-orc cleric got back on his feet.

Casdin fared a little better as he spotted a crowbar which the heroes could use to aid them unfortunately none of the heroes could hold the supporting beams in place and before too long they had failed the challenge.

To the Loaded Goblet.

Disheartened by this they trundled off to the local tavern only to find that it was being used as a temporary hospital to treat the injured and dying. Assisting the clerics inside the tavern (the loaded goblet) Kosh and Torstein worked together to stabilise the dying villagers, before asking a cleric what had happened to the village the answer from the cleric was not encouraging it seemed that the kobolds of Shale Cliff Caverns along with a dragon had attacked the village whilst the militia were dealing with the goblin menace of Ugluk Stormfart and his crones.

Puzzled also by the absence of Laucien the proprietor of the tavern the cleric answered it appears he has fled to Pavelock city. Hearing Torstein’s stomach rumble Casdin searched for some food in the make shift kitchen area of the tavern finding some simple ingredients to make a meagre meal he served the food to Leshanna first.

What lies In Dietrich’s Store?

As the heroes ate Casdin sneaked out to investigate Dietrich’s general goods store noticing a blood trail leading into a basement he went back only to be stopped by a guard failing to convince the guard of what he was doing instead he lead the guard to the scene of a potential crime.

Fearing that Dietrich had been killed or at the very least badly injured the heroes entered the shop and Casdin opened the basement door to reveal a pitch black area. Unperturbed by the darkness in the room Gruumbar decided to carry on forth regardlessly walking into a body as Casdin chucked a sun rod down it revealed the body of a dead elf merchant Casdin recalled this merchant had something to do with Casdin and his friends slavery onto the boat that brought them here in the first place. As they searched the body Torstein confiscated the letter which dropped form the body of the elven merchant. Dragging the body back to the guards, they then returned to the tavern to read the contents of the letter.

It read:

Dietrich, your order of seven warforged are ready for collection from the creation forge.

There was no note or authors signature on the letter but Leshanna shared with the party her father works at the creation forge in Pavelock City. Reacting to this Casdin asked Leshanna about the arena in particular an event with pedestals and crossbows Leshanna nodded her head “There are many brutal events to be found within the arena why I remember one event where two combatants charged at each other only to be consumed by a gelatinous cube.

As the heroes discussed their options on where to go next it was agreed eventually that Casdin would lead them to the Shale Cliff Caverns in order to try and fight the dragon before returning to deal with the goblin menace.

Return to Shale Cliff Caverns

As the heroes ventured undeterred to the Shale Cliff Caverns there was an almost tranquil mood in the air the gentle crashing of the waves form the nearby sea of fangs although Casdin could hear a strange chittering sound coming from down below.

Entering a small entrance into the cavern there appeared to be a solo kobold priest like figure standing just behind a sludge pit and to the very front near where the heroes entered there were two worm like creatures wasting no time Leshanna despatched one off straight the way with a magic missile. Whilst Gruumbar swung his great axe into the second they dropped like flies as Casdin, and Torstein turned their attentions to the solitary kobold after being smacked about a bit the kobold decided to pour some sort of oil onto Casdin bringing an another worm like creature to the surface this one was bigger than the previous two and took a lot more punishment than the other two as it grabbed Casdin with it’s mandibles the other heroes struggled to overcome it or to help Casdin break free.
Trying to subdue the creature Leshanna cast sleep at the creature which missed but managed to put Gruumbar, Kosh and Kadish down in the process eventually Torstein overcame the difficult creature smashing it into pieces as this was happening the kobold retreated to a secure area hiding behind a portcullis pelting the brave heroes with his icy wand (yes he wasn’ t really that well endowed). Before Leshanna dispensed another magic missile into the poor kobold’s face.

Making short work of lifting the bars of the portcullis up Casdin decided to open the treasure chest revealing 200 gold aware he was being watched closely, he informed the others of his find.

After a short rest the heroes made their way into the next room where Casdin recalled there were traps in their previously as Torstein found out when he stepped on a loose stone and was peppered by a dart. Living on a diet of mere carrion four centipedes lay waiting in this room unable to deny themselves of a warm meal they attacked the heroes mercilessly with two of the creatures ganging up on Kadish feeding on his weakened body to make things worse for the cavalier, Leshanna fired off a scorching burst only to hit Kadish and Casdin in the process meanwhile Gruumbar protected his Eladrin friend by attacking the second creature struggling to overcome this encounter the heroes had to rely heavily on the healing prowess of both Kosh and Torstein and after a few tense moments the heroes overcame the centipede infestation and acquired 380 gold pieces in the process.

Deciding to rest up for a little while to recover their strengths Kadish suggested that the heroes returned to the first room where they could rest in relative saftey with a portcullis blocking the only way in and out as the others agreed to this Gruumbar was left with just two thoughts

Why was the Eladrin burning her so called friends and secondly where was this dragon?

As the PC’s arrive near the Treetop village there is something definately wrong happening guards lie are lying dead from arrows, through the neck whilst some others have been decapitated, also several villagers seem to be frozen solid, their faces in expressions of twisted anguish, As you enter the village priests are running frantically carrying the injured to the tavern whilst others are simply administering last rites. Buildings are on fire etc, As you pause for a brief moment a guard with a bandage around one eye shouts “There’s still people trapped in the buidings quick you have got to save them”.

As Leshanna disturbed several people in the room above the stairs she panicked on her way down people are coming, it must have affected her judgement as she found hersef strangely at the forefront of the oncoming battle as a guard hit her with his halberd, knocking her prone. Seeing his ally fall down Kadish dragged her away moving into her vacated space before hitting one of the guards, behind the two guards a skeleton and another guard were waiting forming the second rank whilst a third rank containing another skeleton and human guard.
Unable to get into melee with the guards Torstein and Kosh kept the party alive with their healing magic.

Leshanna annoyed by the injury sustained by the human guard responded by firing a magic missile before casting an acid arrow into the second rank, luckily her acid missed two of her allies, her next action was to fire a sleep spell into the group putting several enemies and the half-orc barbarian to sleep, the enemies eventually succumbed to a volley of radiant damage and acid before Gruumbar finished one of the human guards with his greataxe.

The party then rested before resuming their journey through Leshrac’s tower.
The next room was simply where the enemies had come from and as soon as Casdin had opened the twin doors the PC’s saw the true threat in the room two mages had summoned a strange undead creature, whilst four zombies were also waiting in the room. Two treasure chests attracted Casdins attention, as Leshanna once again blasted an acid arrow off at the strange undead creature, Casdin dealt with his mortal enemies mages, leaving Torstein, Gruumbar and Kosh to attack the zombies as Leshrac struggled to shake off the acid attack courtesy of Leshanna, Kadish assisted Casdin and Leshanna by attacking Leshrac also who could only respond by clawing at the elven rogue as well as healing a downed zombie.

Deciding not to leave any survivors the attention turned to the treasure chests as Casdin snapped his first lockpick before opening it and pocketing the gold inside for himself, Leshanna smelt a rat and asked Casdin what was in the chest to which the reply was nothing much not totally believing the rogue Leshanna observed the opening of the second chest which revealed 260gp which Casdin did inform the group of as to try and avert suspicion. After a rest the PC’s decided to head back to the treetop village.

After identifying the mark of the BLS (Black Lotus Society)the groups attention turned to the boxes in the room where they encountered the gelatinous cube. After smashing several of the boxes and finding nothing but broken health potions etc Casdin started opening the boxes carefully in the process palming a small amulet away from the others whilst Torstein ate a small beetle that he found after Casdin opened the box,whilst Gruumbar attached a set of bracers that was found also. After opening the boxes the group turned their attention to the staircase and what was beyond as they entered the room Casdin observed two dangers the first being some loose stonework and the second being that the room contained a spear gauntlet trap although he informed the others|Torstein decided to find out what a trap was first hand as he stepped on a trigger plate and received several spikes in the foot. Turning their attentions to the statue which had been identified by Kosh as a statue of a necromancer called Leshrac, infuriated by what the statue was of Kosh started smashing the statue and was soon aided by Torstein and Gruumbar who decided he would join in with smashing the statue up also.

The next room the group entered contained two skeletons as well a group of humans which the group slaughtered eventually despite Gruumbar, Torstein and Casdin becoming bloodied on several occasions only the healing of Kosh prevented them from dying.

After a short rest the group made it to another room where they noticed slits in the fllor at 5ft intervals, cautiously the group approached as Leshanna and Gruumbar checked first the stairs out Casdins attention turned to a door to the west which he opened with relative ease, entering the room he found it deserted seemingly bar for a treasure chest containing some wizard robes which Leshanna took for herself. Suddenly from the room with the stairs scythes appeared and cut a path through Torstein .

As Gruumbar charged through to the room with Casdin and Leshanna he stepped on a trigger stone and as Torstein entered four crossbow turrets fired their ammunition bolts burying themselves deeply into four of the groups legs, after this the group left that room and Casdin spotted a control panel which activated the pendulum scythe trap. As he attempted to disarm the trap Kadish spat an acidic glob of spit into the contraption disolving the mechanism from within. Having enough of being attacked Leshanna foolishly went upstairs only to be spotted by a group of enemies and as she retreated she heard them moving to come down to meet the group.

As the party slept recovering from their last fight Casdin observed four undead making their way towards the group the bright and sprightly rogue alerting his allies to the danger immediately resulted in Leshanna firing a magic missile at a zombie before the melee experts could get in Casdin flanking with Kosh and Kadish to bring the undead to a halt.

Along the cave Leshanna recalled somthing she had remembered from history knowing that these caves often had escape routes from towers and other buildings using this information they found a door hidden behind some moss which lead into the tower.

This room was a strange one there were two dead humans bearing a strange motif as well as what looked to be a half orc inside a cage as Casdin went to investigate one of the large vases in the room, there was a worrying sound as four deathjump spiders entered trying to kill the adventurers they wold have succeeded if it wasnt for Kosh’s healing prowess meanwhile the half orc creature bent open the cage bars grabbed one of the bars and swung it straight into the head of one of the spiders.

Begrudgingly respectful of this act Gruumbar nodded with respect and then enquired what tribe this half orc was from as the half orc went to retrieve his equipment Leshanna inspected the font which she found to have been blessed by Vecna, whilst Casdin toyed with a lever which opened up to show a tunnel with a room which appeared to contain 8 boxes, as Casdin charged to investigate the boxes he became engulfed part way through in the body of a gelatinous cube in a desperate attempt to save him the adventurers fought valiantly against the ooze creature with Casdin taking severe amounts of acid damage whilst Gruumbar smacked the creature with his macetail behemoth rage before Casdin could deliver the killing blow on the creature.

As the party retired for an extended rest both Kosh and Leshanna were concerned why was there an undead threat here?
what were the two bodies of humans doing in the other room.

It was a familiar sight for the half orc as he stood at the bar drinking a tankard of wine although he preferred the strong ale as brewed by his tribe he had to admit the taste was growing on him, he observed several adventurer types also in the tavern. The door opend and 4 guards were dragging a dwarf along with them an elf in the tavern seemed quite surprised to see this dwarf and Gruumbar reasoned that this was down to them knowing each other the Goliath attempted to engage in conversation with the dwarf in his native tongue only for the truth to be revealed the dwarf transformed into it’s true self a doppelganger who screamed “die would be assassin of the white dragon”, before they attempted to attack the elf, the mention of the word dragon was enough to pique Grummbar’s and the other adventurers interests as they turned to help this elven person, after the penultimate guard dropped the elf picked up a duelists blade remaining guard fled attempting to evade the adventurers who were succesful in tracking down the escaping guard who had regrouped with some halflings who peppered the adventurers with sling stones before again fleeing to regroup in a cave, as the adventurers entered the cave they were greeted by a mage and two beserkers who the adventurers slaughtered with relative ease. Further into the cave the adventurers continued despatching a couple of zombies en-route as well as succesfully spotting a holy symbol lying partially covered in dirt.

As the Adventurers ventured into what they thought would be the last room they noticed it was extremely cold in here and dark attempting to remedy this Zanne chucked a sun rod illuminating the room where they could just see a pool of ice unfortunately for them they didnt see the white dragon who was waiting for them he roared triumphantly spraying the adventurers with his icy breath. Horgar retaliated brandishing the fury of his god onto the dragon but it was in vain as the dragon tore him asunder Zanne,Casdin and Valna startled by the demise of their dwarven friend worked together to try and avenge the brave dwarf but despite fighting valiantly were unable to overcome such a beast as the dragon tore Zanne and then Valna to pieces before pursuing Casdin out of the cavern. Casdin knew that he had escaped within mere inches of his life as fled the cavern he decided to leave his brave allies to their unfortunate fate.
He returned to the Loaded goblet full of remorse for the loss of his comerades.

As the Adventurers ventured further into the caverns they came across a strange room with suits of armour stood in a corner an altar dedicated to Tiamat had been constructed incensed by this Horgar after helping his allies dispatch the kobold foes decimated the altar. After leaving this room they came across a room where there was a strange game in progress being played by kobolds the adventurers fought bravely and Casdin found himself knocked into the strange pool of green goo. After destroying the kobolds and some lizard like creatures the PC’s came to a large room where a fanatical wyrmpriest stood pulling a lever revealing a large boulder trap which proved to be a foolish action as the boulder crushed several of the wyrmpriests allies. After overcoming this encounter Horgar claimed a craghammer that he had found amongst the dead.

As the party entered the final chamber the air became chilly and a large frozen pool could be seen ahead. Zanne activated a sunrod from his pack and tossed it into the centre of the room. They were momentarily shaken when a large white reptillian beast surged toward them, releasing a blast of its icy breath.

With a prayer to Kord, Horgar charged the beast, but was grabbed by its foreclaws. Between its massive talons and its toothy maw, the valiant dwarf was ripped asunder. Casdin and Zanne charged into the beast to avenge their fallen comrade while Valna hung back, supplying ranged support with his archery skills.

The warrior and rogue landed many mighty blows, even managing to batter the dragon to the ground twice but without the healing powers of their dwarven comrade the talons of the dragon took their toll as first Zanne and then Valna dropped to the ground.

Deciding that survival was better than suicide, Casdin summoned all his stealth and managed to evade the dragon until it returned to its resting place. Then using what reserves of energy he could he sprinted for the exit, the draconic fury of the beast nipping at his heels, but thankfully missing by mere inches.

Battered, bruised and alone, Casdin returned to Treetop Village looking for healing, rest and new companions with which to avenge his fallen comrades!